When the history of MP3 is written, let it be duly noted that Grand Royal Records, home of the Beastie Boys, was the first label to use the streaming technology to promote its artists online.
Grand Royal Records began using a Shoutcast-based radio station, dubbed Grand Royal Radio.
"We want to do things like live shows broadcast through Shoutcast, pull out magazine interviews, unreleased stuff, B sides ... things that make it special," said Lisa LaCour, Grand Royal's new-media representative. "It's about giving fans what they want and exposing people to good music,"
Started in 1993, Grand Royal is a quasi-independent label affiliated with Capitol Records. The company is currently promoting 17 artists on a Shoutcast channel that runs around the clock with a randomly shuffled playlist. Shoutcast allows individuals and companies to stream MP3 files over the Net.
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MP3 pioneer http://www.nullsoft.com"Nullsoft developed the streaming tool to work in conjunction with the company's Winamp player, which allows users to stream music from their computers. A plug-in converts the stream and sends it to the server software.
LaCour said Grand Royal Radio only receives about 10 to 15 visitors at a time, but the company expects usage to increase as word gets out. Grand Royal is encouraging fans to chip in with mirror sites to handle the hundreds, possibly thousands, of listeners who are bound to jump on.
"One of the coolest things about Shoutcast is its distributed nature," said Ian Rogers, Grand Royal's webmaster. Currently, his company uses only one server, donated by Nullsoft.
"Anyone can pick up a stream and carry it themselves, so not all the bandwidth is in one place. That way, people in different geographic areas could find one that works better for them."
Nullsoft may have its work cut out for it when it comes time to support the mass audiences of a traditional radio station. Though a single Shoutcast-enabled computer can only stream to about 30 listeners at a time, server "chains" can be built to support hundreds, even thousands more.
But whether or not Shoutcast and streaming MP3 will be able to scale larger and larger audiences in the congested environment of the Internet remains to be seen.
"I think what's most exciting about [Shoutcast] is the community behind it," said Rogers. "If it does take off, it's because there is a listening audience out there that is behind it, not because some company dropped a million dollars into it and convinced people to use it."
